October 2012, Doha, Qatar – In partnership with the Diplomatic Institute of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, UNITAR’s Multilateral Diplomacy Programme recently delivered a training course for Qatari diplomats that aimed at supporting their Government’s preparations for the 67th United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Over a period of two weeks, UNITAR delivered a complete overview of the General Assembly, and covered the essential skills needed for diplomats to represent Qatar effectively with respect to all issues of importance to Qatar and to the international community as a whole.

UNITAR offered an introduction to the structure and functioning of the United Nations system, its history and provided specific insight to the mandate and function of the General Assembly and its committees. Building upon participants’ skills, sessions also focused on applying negotiation strategy effectively so as to build international progress with respect to real-life situations. Aside from reinforcing the participants’ ability to negotiate and mediate effectively, demonstrating the virtues of active-listening and pacified communication, this branch of the training notably served as an illustration of the United Nations role in conflict resolution. Finally, the workshop strengthened participants’ understanding and ability to apply and use the rules of procedure in conference diplomacy and at the General Assembly.

The workshop combined theory with practical exercises and interactive simulations allowing participants to gain a concrete sense of business as it may occur in reality, and allowing them to apply their theoretical knowledge in practice.

The programme’s sessions were well received by all, and participants’ were appreciative of the training that equipped them for their time in New York. This training will be followed by a series of other capacity building activities in the field of multilateral diplomacy to be delivered by UNITAR in partnership with the Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Diplomatic Institute over the coming months and years.

For more information about this training or any other activities delivered by UNITAR’s Multilateral Diplomacy Programme, please contact diplomacy@unitar.org